One NYE Resolution for Each 2025 State Champion

6A DI: Galena Park North Shore

Rebuild the LB Room

No position on North Shore’s championship team showed more improvement over the course of the season than the linebacker corps. In a Week 1 loss, the Mustangs allowed 370 rushing yards on 9.49 yards per carry to South Oak Cliff. In the Class 6A DI State Championship, North Shore held Duncanville to just 7 points on 297 total yards. 

Now, North Shore must replace two First Team All-District 23-6A linebackers (Omari Demerson, Dezmon Christian) and one Second Team outside linebacker (Da’Sean Royal). The rebuild will start with 2027 MLB Kendrick Brown. He was the only non-senior linebacker to register a tackle in the state championship.

6A DII: DeSoto Eagles

Find a new source of motivation

Somehow, DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis’s postgame interview was just as legendary as the 57-44 win over Southlake Carroll in the Class 6A DII State Semifinal, complete with ripping a towel off his shoulders and whipping it onto the turf. After a 0-2 start to the year, he’d borne plenty of outside noise about the death of his program on his shoulders. That towel represented what he felt was slander on DeSoto, and he was shedding it the only way he knew how - passionately.  

“Somebody said it was the end of an era,” Mathis said. “It’s just the beginning! It’s just the beginning! You tell them, ‘It’s just beginning!’ That’s what it says about DeSoto. We here! We nowhere else! We’re going to be a goddang legacy. I love these kids, but I’m tired of people talking about us.”

If the questions about DeSoto’s dynasty, at least in part, powered its third Class 6A DII State Championship in the last four years, what will motivate it in 2026? Our guess is that they’ll figure it out.

5A DI: Smithson Valley Rangers

Replace the best defensive line in program history

There was some speculation among TXHSFB coaches that Smithson Valley’s defense was actually better in 2025 than the program’s first state championship team. Those who believed were proven right in Smithson Valley’s 28-6 win over Frisco Lone Star in the Class 5A DI State Championship, a signature defensive performance against a Lone Star team averaging over 50 points per game in the playoffs. 

But Smithson Valley’s stout defense will lose some longtime contributors this offseason, notably on the defensive line. SMU commit Hudson Woods, the state championship’s Defensive MVP with two sacks, two PBUs and two forced fumbles, and UTEP commit Justin Roberts were each four-year lettermen. Roberts played 62 career games as a Ranger.

“Justin’s (Roberts) been here so long I can’t remember when we didn’t have him,” head coach Larry Hill said after the state championship game. “It’s sure going to be hard for him and a few others to have to do without.” 

Other stalwarts along the line, such as Kyle Bierman. Caleb Barrow and Caden Lieck, are also graduating. 2027 DE Truth Duvall-el, who had a sack in the state championship game, should take an even larger role next year.

5A DII: South Oak Cliff Golden Bears

Find a new dynamic duo at RB

Richmond Randle had the No.1 running back in the country in Landen Williams-Callis, but it was South Oak Cliff that ran wild in the Class 5A DII State Championship. Senior RB Mikail Trotter earned Offensive MVP with 11 carries for 143 yards and three touchdowns. 

Trotter finished the season with 1,418 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns, but he was far from a one-man show. Fellow senior Levon Morton also had 1,270 yards and 16 touchdowns. 

In four of the last five seasons, South Oak Cliff has had two 1,000-yard rushers. Who will those guys be in 2026? Adriane Boyd and Kenneth Young were the only non-senior RBs on South Oak Cliff’s state championship roster.

4A DI: Stephenville Yellow Jackets

Build back the best defense in the state, with far less experience

Stephenville’s “War Dogs” defense was named the best in TXHSFB, per Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. The Yellow Jackets allowed under 10 points per game on the year and finished with a masterclass in the Class 4A DI State Championship. The 10-0 final score was the lowest scoring state championship game since 1991. 

Stephenville returned 10 starters on defense entering the 2025 season. Stars such as DL Kolton Dearth, DE CJ Spellmeier and LBs Hudson Butchee and Caleb Taylor were all starters from sophomore year on, playing a total of 44 games in three years. The Yellow Jackets will have far less experience in 2026. Of the 15 players who registered a tackle in the state championship, only five return.

But the cupboard is far from bare in Stephenville. Five players (SS Cooper Rudd, DE Jackson Richmond, DB Xavier Gonzales, LB Kolson Tomlinson and DL Nolan Griswold) racked up over 50 tackles last season. Richmond (56 tackles, 11 TFL, 8 sacks) and Griswold (65 tackles, 16 TFL, 3 sacks) should give Stephenville a stout defensive front again.

4A DII: Carthage Bulldogs

Replace a record-setting QB/RB combo

Carthage’s 49-21 win over West Orange-Stark in the Class 4A DII State Championship, in which the starters were subbed out to standing ovations with nine minutes remaining, was the perfect send-off for one of the most decorated senior classes at one of the state’s most decorated programs.

QB Jett Surratt, the son of 11-time state champion coach Scott Surratt, broke every school passing record, including the touchdown passes record by the seventh game of his senior season. RB KJ Edwards, a Texas A&M signee, broke the school’s career rushing yards and career rushing touchdowns records. Carthage will also have to replace RB Benny Smith, who had over 1,000 yards himself as the power-back complement to Edwards.

Rising senior Shawn Bundy (364 yards, 2 TD) will be in line for increased snaps, but history shows Coach Surratt favors a two-RB system. Rising junior Jacob Dixon is the only returning QB who completed a varsity pass last season. If a one-pass sample size is any indication, Carthage should be just fine. Dixon went 1-for-1 for a 38-yard TD.

3A DI: Yoakum Bulldogs

Settle on a Scheme

Yoakum played sophomore Germann Robinson at quarterback for the entirety of the regular season last year. Then, come playoff time, head coach Bo Robinson decided to directly snap it to senior wide receivers Jace Morales and X’Zavier Barnett (SMU signee). That strategy was a resounding success. In Yoakum’s first state championship win in program history, Morales rushed for 197 yards and a score while Barnett rushed for 193 yards and five touchdowns.  But with both players graduated, Yoakum must decide whether the offense will run with a true QB or with the best athletes taking direct snaps.

3A DII: Wall Hawks (Moving to 3A DI)

Overhaul Offensive Roster

Out of the 14 Wall offensive players who earned All-District 4-3A DII honors, only three will return in 2026. Two wide receivers in Jager Thompson (First Team) and Evan Boehle (Second Team) return, but District MVP QB Landon York has graduated. Whoever takes the reins at QB will only have one returning starter on the offensive line (First Team All-District honoree Gage Jacoby). 

Not only does Wall have to replace most of the offensive production, but the entire offensive scheme was created for the graduating senior class. Wall ran the flexbone veer offense for 17 years, but changed to the spread when head coach Craig Slaughter took over.

Wall is also moving up to Class 3A DI.

2A DI: Hamilton Bulldogs (Moving to 3A DII)

Maintain historic success while jumping to Class 3A

Fresh off of winning the first state championship in the program’s 114-year history, Hamilton doesn’t have much of a honeymoon period. Hamilton is the only 2025 state champion jumping up an entire classification in the 2026-28 realignment, going from Class 2A DI to Class 3A DII. Head coach Ryan Marwitz was even asked about the move in the state championship postgame press conference. The Bulldogs are now the second-smallest Class 3A school in the state, with 248 students.

2A DII: Muenster Hornets (Moving to 2A DI)

Find new offensive identity without Casen Carney

Over the last two years, Muenster had 14,292 yards of total offense. Graduated QB Casen Carney accounted for 9,138 yards, which is 64% of the offense’s production. Even for a TXHSFB QB, Muenster’s offense lived and died with Carney. Most of the time they didn’t just survive, but thrived. But can the new QB be expected to carry so much of the load, especially as Muenster jumps to 2A DI?

1A DI: Gordon Longhorns

Replace the Reeds

Not only were the Gordon Longhorns the best six-man team in Texas, but they also cemented their legacy as the best six-man team of all time.

Gordon boasted two Division I football players in Stryker Reed (Air Force) and Ry Reed (Army). Stryker scored 34 touchdowns on 66 touches. In other words, he scored a touchdown more times than he was tackled. Ry, meanwhile, had 27 touchdowns on 57 touches. 

It’ll be up to their fathers, head coach Mike Reed (Stryker’s father) and assistant Shad Reed (Ry’s father) to figure out how to get back to a state championship without them. Gordon seeks to become the second six-man football team in state history (Fort Hancock) to reach four consecutive state titles.

1A DII: Jayton Jaybirds

Recreate Bode Ham Moneyball style

After winning the Class 1A DII State Championship, Jayton head coach Josh Stanaland said he’d never coached an athlete as gifted as senior Bode Ham. That wasn’t just a coach caught up in the moment. Ham set a Class 1A State Championship record with 13 total touchdowns on 430 rushing yards and 118 passing yards. He was also named the game’s Defensive MVP with eight tackles, three tackles for loss and a pass breakup. 

Stanaland will approach the 2026 season like former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane. No one player can replace Ham, but Jayton will need to recreate him in the aggregate.